Blood
by Intoxicated369
Summary: DHr. Draco feels the pressure of the future his father has planned for him as Hermione realizes what sacrifices must be made if they have any chance of winning the war that will come. Can they help each other? Or more importantly, are they willing to?
1. Chapter 1  Grimmauld Place

_**Chapter One **_

_**Number 12, Grimauld Place**_

Night had fallen at number 12, Grimauld Place, where an anxious silence echoed throughout the house. Old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered quietly all along the walls, casting a flickering, insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper. Also visible, but just barely, was the threadbare carpet that lined the long, gloomy hallways which branched off into unused rooms reeking of mildew. In them, age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls and cobwebby chandeliers glimmered distantly overhead.

Suddenly, the aged door in the main hallway creaked open to let in a motley assortment. The large group that had just stepped over the chipped threshold was comprised of several quirky characters. One of these people was a young woman with a pale heart-shaped face and short, spiky hair that was a violent shade of bright bubble-gum pink. The second person that attracted the most attention was the grizzled old man with a large chunk missing from his nose that followed her. Compared to his acquaintances, the next person that walked into the derelict building did not seem particularly remarkable at all.

He was a skinny, black-haired boy whose startling green eyes looked at the world from behind a pair of very battered glasses. The one thing that Harry Potter could not hide was indeed _quite _interesting. He had a curiously shaped cut in the middle of his forehead, like a bolt of lightning. The scar was, for the most part, entirely unnoticeable unless someone looked for it. Unfortunately for Harry, almost everyone did.

A moment after the door swung slowly shut, a plump, red-haired woman came bustling out of the kitchen to greet them.

"Oh, Harry, it's so lovely to see you again!" Mrs. Weasley pulled him into a bone-cracking hug, then held him at arm's length to examine him. "My, my, you're looking peaky. Those Muggles haven't been feeding you good. I'll fix you right up as soon as the kitchen's free again." She gestured to the door that she had just come through, which the new arrivals were filing through. "The meeting's just started. No, not you, dear," she added briskly as Harry made to follow them. "Order members only."

He opened his mouth to object, but she raised a hand to stop him from interrupting her. "Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meeting's over, and then we'll all have dinner. And keep your voice down as long as you're in the hall." She added in an urgent whisper.

"Why?"

"We mustn't wake anything up."

"What would –"

"I'll explain everything later, I'm supposed to be at the meeting – I'll just show you where you're sleeping."


	2. Chapter 2  The Order of the Phoenix

_**Chapter Two**_

_**The Order of the Phoenix**_

Hermione Granger paced irritably in front of the window, talking animatedly to the tall gangly boy lying on one of the twin beds in the gloomy, high-ceilinged bedroom.

"When do you think Harry will get here?" she asked Ron Weasley impatiently. "I mean, Hedwig's been here for a while already and Harry _still_ hasn't turned up." She gestured at the white owl sitting on the top of a dark wardrobe. "And when he _does_ get here, what'll we tell him?"

Ron sat up from the musty bed, his freckles standing out against his pale skin in the darkness, frowning. "What d'you mean, what do we tell Harry?"

Before Hermione could answer him, the bedroom door opened, letting in considerably more light from the hallway. Hermione blinked rapidly, trying to rid herself of the stars that burst before her eyes. Finding she could see again, Hermione gazed at the unkempt figure in the doorway before launching herself to him.

"HARRY! I can't believe you're here! Ron and I didn't hear you arrive!" Harry caught only a brief glimpse of the room before it was obscured by a large expanse of Hermione's very bushy brown hair.

"Oh, Harry, you must be furious with us! Dumbledore said we couldn't tell you anything, it was terrible, I wrote all these letters and had to burn them up so that I wasn't tempted to send them – all that we could write to you was completely useless – and they told us about the Ministry hearing, it's outrageous, I looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just _can't_, there's provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations -"

"Let him breathe, Hermione, he only just got here!" Ron grinned at his best friend, who was equally amused at the over-excited girl. Hermione let go of him, still beaming, but anything more she might have said was lost in the sound of beating wings.

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed in delight. The snowy owl landed gently on his shoulder, and nibbled his ear affectionately.

"She's been a right mess since she got here, pecked us half to death when she came with your last letters." Ron showed Harry his right hand, where several of his fingers sported clearly deep cuts. "Hermione was going off her rocker with fright too, kept saying you'd do something dumb if you were stuck there without any clue of what was going on."

"Sorry about that. But I wanted answers, you know." Harry said reproachfully.

"We wanted to give them to you, Harry! Really, we did! But Dumbledore –"

"– Made you swear not to tell me," He cut Hermione off abruptly. "I get it."

Hermione paused, biting her lip. Something cold flickered in Harry's eyes, replacing his open smile, and to her, it seemed like a door inside of him had suddenly been slammed shut. There was a strained silence in which she ran her fingers through her bushy hair, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Harry stroked Hedwig almost automatically, attempting not to look at the others.

She decided to break the ice that had been dropped into the room. "He seemed to think it was best for you," Hermione said rather timidly, "Dumbledore, I mean."

"Yeah?" Harry raised his eyebrows at her. "I guess he didn't figure that I'd get attacked by dementors while I was stuck at the Dursleys', huh?"

No one spoke for a minute. Harry found himself focusing once more on Hedwig's white feathers, stroking her mildly rumpled wings in the silence.

"He was so mad when he found out," Ron breathed in an awestruck voice. "It was like he was ready to skin Mundungus alive."

"Mundungus? What does he have to do with this?" said Harry, doing his best to keep his voice even.

"Well, you see, Harry, he was the one tailing you at the time, and he skipped his shift and –"

"Tailing me?" Harry asked incredulously. "There were people following me?"

He saw Ron and Hermione exchanging a glance that told him they were behaving exactly as he feared they would. It did nothing to improve his temper.

"Maybe Dumbledore thinks I can't be trusted." He said shortly.

"Of course he doesn't think that!" Hermione looked disconcerted.

"Or that I can't take care of myself –"

"Don't be thick," Ron tried to interrupt his flow, before getting cut off.

"So how come I have to stay with them, while you get to join in everything that's going on here?" said Harry hotly.

"We're not! They said we're too young, we can't do anything –" Hermione yelped, wincing at Harry's ever-increasing volume. Before she knew it, he was shouting.

"DON'T SAY THAT! YOU'VE BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? SO WHAT IF YOU CAN'T GO TO THE MEETINGS? AT LEAST YOU'RE HERE. I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR OVER A MONTH, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON-"

"We wanted to tell you –" Hermione began.

"RIGHT, BUT YOU DIDN'T, BECAUSE _DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR –"_

"Well, he did –"

"AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT – WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK LAST YEAR? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"

Ron was standing there, mouth half-open, clearly at a loss for what to say, which would have been very amusing, had Hermione not been on the verge of tears.

"Harry, we're really sorry!" She exclaimed desperately. "You're right – I'd be furious if it were me!" It was this comment that made Harry close his mouth. He began to pace up and down, still glaring at the floor, trying to cool his temper.

"I – I'm sorry." Harry winced at his own poor apology. "I shouldn't take it out on you guys. But… could someone tell me what this place even is?"

"It's Sirius' house." said Ron at once. "He's letting Dumbledore use the house for whatever he wants." He added. Harry looked up at the mention of his godfather, a mental image of the ex-Azkaban prisoner flashing through his mind.

"Sirius is here?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't want to be. Dumbledore's making him stay here, and away from people who might recognize him in the wizarding world."

"So what's Dumbledore using the house for?" Harry demanded.

"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," answered Ron promptly, heading Harry off before he got worked up again.

"It's a secret society," Hermione jumped in, answering Harry's unasked question. "Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it, for fighting You-Know-Who."

"Who's in it?" said Harry, coming to a halt in front of the wardrobe.

Hermione said, "Well, we're not exactly sure about _everyone_ but a lot of them will be at dinner, so you'll meet - AARGH!"


	3. Chapter 3 Extendable Ears

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Extendable Ears and Their Makers **_

There were two resounding cracks as Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers, materialized out of thin air into the middle of the room.

"_Please_!" gasped Hermione weakly to the twins, who were as vividly red-haired as Ron, though of stockier build and minutely shorter. "Stop doing that! It wouldn't have taken you more than thirty seconds longer to _walk_ down the stairs."

"Time is Galleons, my dear," said Fred, winking at her. "Anyway, hello, Harry, we thought we heard your voice."

George snorted in response to his twin's understatement.  
"If you hadn't heard it, Fred, I'd be worried. Though there might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear him."

"Passed your Apparation tests then, did you?" asked Harry grumpily.  
Fred grinned proudly. "With distinction, I'm proud to say. Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," He added in response to Harry's bewildered look. George held up what looked like a piece of very long, flesh-colored string that trailed out onto the landing.

"Extendable –?"

"Ears, yeah. We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs with them. Invented them ourselves," added George, puffing out his chest.

"It won't work though," interrupted Ginny, who had slid unnoticed through the door. She brushed her long mane of fiery hair over her shoulder. "Mum's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How'd you know, little sister?" asked George, looking crestfallen.  
"Tonks told me how to find out. You just chuck stuff at the door and if it doesn't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from upstairs and they just keep soaring off. Hello, Harry," she added brightly. "I could hear you from upstairs and thought I'd stop by."

Fred heaved a deep sigh. "That was a waste. Well, Harry, we must be off, should get back before Mum finds our Ear." George gave the string a hearty tug; there was another loud bang and he and Fred vanished.

Seconds later, Mrs. Weasley's plump figure appeared in the doorway. "The meeting's over, so we'll be having dinner soon, everyone's dying to see you, Harry. Who left all the Dungbombs outside the kitchen door? Severus stepped on one as he was leaving."

"It was Crookshanks," Ginny lied, unblushingly. "He just loves playing with those."

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley frowned slightly. "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he's been doing odd things like that lately. Ginny why are your hands all filthy? Go wash them before dinner, please…"  
Ginny grimaced at the others, then followed her mother unwillingly out of the room. There was another awkward silence after the door shut behind the red-haired girl. _There has been entirely too many of these,_ thought Hermione to herself irritably.

"You have to wonder where they're getting all that money." Ron said abruptly.

"What?"

"You know, Fred and George. They've been making all sorts of things, like those Extendable Ears, and they bought me a new pair of dress robes, too." He added, the tips of his own ears turning a bright red. "Mum was so pleased with them; she didn't even scold them for Apparating into the kitchen when they should've walked down the stairs."

Harry shifted his feet nervously. "I can't imagine. Maybe they won a contest in a joke magazine or something. Who's Kreacher?" he changed the subject quickly.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. Harry knew something about the twins, and it didn't look like he was about to tell her, but Hermione knew better than to ask. Harry always had a good reason to keep quiet about things, so instead she let Ron answer him.

"The house-elf who lives here," said Ron. "Complete nutter."  
Hermione got fired up at the comment. "He's not a _nutter_, Ron, he's just – just a bit strange is all."

Ron turned to Harry and rolled his eyes. "She still hasn't given up that _spew_ thing. Anyway, it doesn't matter. You'll find out soon enough. C'mon, I'm starving."  
And with that he led the way out of the door and onto the landing.


End file.
